Talent big and unfamiliar makes for a rich showcase

The music of Jewel can be described in many ways: Pretty. Unabashedly romantic. Wispy. But hard-core it is not.

Saturday at Spaceland, though, John Rich -- half of the million-selling country duo Big & Rich -- asked the capacity crowd: “How bad-ass was that?” Jewel had just played “Near You Always,” a fragile folk-pop ballad from her blockbuster debut, “Pieces of You.” The answer? Not very.

Still, you had to forgive Rich’s enthusiasm, since he was onstage for a good cause: Nashville Meets L.A., a cozy songwriters’ showcase he and Jewel (whose new album Rich is producing) put together to drum up interest in a few acts from Muzik Mafia, the musicians’ collective Rich and his partner “Big” Kenny Alphin created with Gretchen Wilson and Cowboy Troy.

The Mafia’s motto is “muzik without prejudice,” and if that promises more excitement than even Big & Rich usually muster, on Saturday it reflected the variety of talent on display. Jon Nicholson, a portly fellow with a bald pate, sang handsome soul tunes about being “a little bit shy of the big time” and feeling like a loser in a winner’s world. Shanna Crooks trimmed tough-minded love songs with Christina Aguilera-grade melisma. Trevor Rosen, Crooks’ accompanist, played one of his originals, “You Already Know My Love.”

Of course, fans forked over their $8 to see Jewel and Rich perform in an unusually intimate setting, and neither star disappointed.

Jewel slowed down hits such as “You Were Meant for Me” and “Foolish Games,” luxuriating in the misery of heartbreak. Rich did gender-bent versions of Wilson’s “Redneck Woman” and Faith Hill’s “Mississippi Girl,” both of which he wrote. Guess who was more hard-core?